Welcome to NextChapter
We're so excited for you to get started! To help you hit the ground running, here's how to make the most of two key resources, plus the tools that will save you and your clients the most time.
Help Center
Our Help Center has hundreds of searchable, step-by-step articles covering every section of NextChapter, from filing basics to advanced features. A few of the most frequently viewed articles for new users:
Statement of Social Security (Form 121): required since NextChapter doesn't store the full SSN in the app
Webinar Library
Our Webinar Library has live and recorded, expert-led sessions covering everything from getting started to specific tools and workflows. Start with these four, in this order:
NextChapter Refresher: a full case from start to finish, the best place to begin
Account Settings: get your account configured correctly before you start filing
Income Training: how to fill out income, which populates both Schedule I and the means test
Filing Bootcamp: how to use Download & Print and Review & File to file your case electronically
You'll Need an Active Plan
Filing with NextChapter requires an active plan for your firm. You can view options, choose a plan, and save a credit card in My Account Settings > Billing & Pricing Plans. See Updating Your Billing for a breakdown of what each plan includes and how to select one.
A few things worth knowing up front:
Your annual subscription covers your case volume.
Some items are purchased separately and are not included in Pro Basic, Pro Plus, or Whoa, including Chapter 13 Plans, Doc Creator, and Business Chapter 11 packages.
If your plan expires without renewal, access is restricted for everyone on the account, including all users and all cases, until a new plan is purchased. See NextChapter Plan Expiration.
If you'd like to talk through which plan fits your firm, use this link to find some time with a member of our Sales team.
Set Up Your Account
Add your ECF/bar credentials to My Account Settings > My User Profile. This is how NextChapter logs into the court ECF website to file your case. Make sure the credentials entered into the ECF section in My Account Settings are the same ones you use to log into your court to file cases.
Use our MFA Bypass walkthrough guide to add your ECF Authentication Key here:
After these steps, select your attorney profile in Client Profile > Filing Information. This dropdown tells the software which credentials to use when logging into the court website to file:
How to Navigate NextChapter
It's best to work your way down the tabs in NextChapter from top to bottom. Each tab contains different entries that will populate throughout the schedules.
As you work through your case, use the orange Preview button in the top right of any case to view the schedules as you plug in information. This lets you confirm the information is populating into the schedules as needed.
While in Preview, our Form Preview Helper tool shows exactly where your data maps to each bankruptcy form, with a Map in the right sidebar for every line, plus quick access to Help Center articles for anything you're unsure about.
Use the review sections (Review & File, Means Test Review, and SOFA Review) to walk through the information we've already pulled from your case. The orange "?" contains a help article link with how to answer the questions, and the revisit tab takes you back to the section where the information populated from.
More Tools You'll Use
Beyond filing, NextChapter includes several tools designed to save you and your clients time:
Credit Report Integration (CRI): pull credit reports directly into NextChapter without leaving the case. Get your application submitted now to begin the process for earlier approval.
MyChapter Client Portal: lets your clients fill out and update their own information online, which imports directly into their case.
NextMessage: text your clients directly from the case dashboard, or set up automated reminders.
Doc Creator: build custom, reusable document templates that merge case data automatically.
Getting Help Through Chat
Click the orange chat icon in the lower right of your screen from any view in NextChapter to review recent messages from our team, search the Help Center, or start a live chat with support.
Our AI Support Agent, Fin, is available 24/7 directly in the app and is trained on our full Help Center library. Select "Ask a Question" in the chat bubble to get fast answers on features, workflows, and filing questions. For anything Fin can't resolve, just ask it to "Speak to a human agent" to reach our support team.
For urgent filing issues, you can also contact support directly at support@nextchapterbk.com.